(Washington) The cold snap that crippled the power grid in Texas has opened a new front in the age-old conflict between green energy advocates and their fossil fuel rivals.
Posted on February 20, 2021 at 10:10 a.m.
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While one side sees the possibility of building a new, fortified and more sustainable electricity grid, the other says that the crisis demonstrates the need not to abandon oil, natural gas and coal.
Both recognize, however, a familiar phenomenon that dates back to the first day of the environmental movement: People don’t think about pollution when it comes time to survive a crisis.
“When the temperature drops below zero, no one cares where the electricity comes from. We just need the heat, launched Thursday an elected Texan, Michael Burgess. We all agree that the United States deserves a cleaner future, but committing to it while ignoring energy reliability is the wrong approach. “
PHOTO JAY JANNER, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN VIA AP
City of Austin employees repair a broken water pipe on February 19.
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Conservative politicians and commentators have used the Texas crisis to sing the praises of fossil fuels.
The fact that the production of natural gas in Texas was cut off by the cold didn’t seem to matter. Wind turbines and frozen solar panels – which together account for just 10% of the state’s power supply – have offered a powerful image.
“It just goes to show that fossil fuels are needed,” Texas Gov. Republican Greg Abbott told Fox News.
In fact, the state’s Department of Energy has recognized that the failure to protect power grids and pipelines from the harsh winter was the root of the crisis.
Outside of Texas, Senator Steve Daines of Montana, a staunch supporter of the Keystone XL project, said the Texas crisis was “a prime example of the need for reliable energy sources like natural gas and coal.”
Marta Stoepker, a spokesperson for the environmental group Sierra Club, cannot believe the speeches of her opponents.
“As long as the misinformation about network failures continues, there will be more people at risk of system failure,” she said.
More than four million people have lost power after temperatures drop and winter storms for which Texas is ill-equipped.
These power outages sparked a series of disasters: frozen pipes burst, flooding homes, or water treatment systems paralyzed, forcing residents to melt snow and wait in line for hours to get Of drinking water.
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–PHOTO CALLAGHAN O’HARE, REUTERS
Jay Farrell had to resolve to collect the water in his jacuzzi to flush the toilet.
–PHOTO CALLAGHAN O’HARE, REUTERS
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The authorities had to carry out load shedding operations to prevent an unprecedented demand from overwhelming the networks.
Much of the lost power was supplied by natural gas plants, New Jersey Democratic representative Frank Pallone recalled.
Some Republicans and conservative media peddle alternate realities. They shamefully turn a crisis into an anti-renewables campaign, and they conveniently overlook the fact that the majority of failures come from fossil-fueled infrastructure.
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Frank Pallone, Democratic Representative from New Jersey
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Mme Stoepker urged parliamentarians to start telling people the truth.
« [L’industrie des combustibles fossiles] spends millions of dollars every year trying to confuse us about its ability to be reliable and clean, but it is clearly incapable of doing so at the moment, ”she says.
If President Joe Biden was planning to visit Texas as soon as possible, his administration had to recognize that the fight against polluting emissions will have to be temporarily put on the back burner.
The Department of Energy has allowed Texas to temporarily ignore emissions regulations, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall said.
“Essentially, it’s about relaxing some of the standards in an emergency for pollution so that the state can generate enough energy when its capacities are reduced or reduced to zero. “
Source: LaPresse.ca – International
